Line Messenger Launches Its Own Blockchain Network with Cryptocurrency

September 3, 2018

Line, the most popular messenger of Japan, has claimed to start its own blockchain net Link Chain with cryptocurrency Link.

As the statement published today at the company’s official website says, the messenger developers plan to issue around 1 billion of Link tokens with 800 million of them being publicly distributed and 200 million as reserve.

The coins will be given to users of the decentralized applications based on Link Chain blockchain technologies. According to the white paper, the first two such apps are to be launched this September and 19 more dApps projects to be released in the first quarter of 2019.

The Link cryptocurrency will be available at the Line’s own crypto exchange, Bitbox, in September. Later these tokens can be used in the messenger’s payment system.

Note that currently Bitbox hasn’t been licensed for carrying out operations within Japan. So Japanese Line users will be given name-sake points instead of Link tokens at first that can later be converted to cryptocurrency.

The Bitbox platform was launched on July 16 this year in Singapore. Now the exchange is available for all users of the world except for the citizens of the USA and Japan.